Friday, July 4, 2014

(Kiel, Germany)- The “Greatest Sailing Event in the World” and the
largest summer festival in Northern Europe is Kieler Woche, so says the
Kieler Chamber of Commerce— the self-proclaimed “Kiel.Sailing.City” of
Germany. It’s awfully hard to argue with that point if you look at the
numbers and the magnitude of the event. In a nine-day program, over
2,000 events are hosted to entertain over three million visitors from
all over the world. All these people come to celebrate the 132nd Kieler
Woche, temporary home for 5,000 sailors aboard 2,000 yachts from 50
countries sailing 40 individual fleets on 11 race courses with 400
starts planned! It’s not surprising the "Who's who" of sailing in many
competitive one-design classes line up at the start for this eponymous
event.

Three J/classes compete over the course of the nine days in Kiel. In
the first part are the J/70s and J/80s and the second are the J/24s.

The J/70s had an excellent turnout of a dozen boats with several notable
German sailors participating. At the top would surely be Claas
Lehmann, a recent International 505 World Champion as well as skipper
Michael Illgenstein sailing for the Flensburg Sailing Club- one of the
leaders in the Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga sailing in J/70s. Apparently,
FSC’s Illgenstein was hoping that racing in Kieler Woche would be
helpful for their next event in the Bundesliga that takes place at
Travemunde Sailing Week in three weeks. To add more fuel to the fire,
also sailing as skipper was Christian Soyka, a five-times X-99 World
Champion from Germany and from The Netherlands, Woulter Kollman sailing
HENRI LLOYD, a multiple J/22 Netherlands/ Benelux and J/22 European
Champion.

With
so much firepower aiming for the coveted three slots on the podium, it
was anyone’s guess how it would all go down after three days of racing.
Only seven of ten races were completed but it was enough to see
enormous fluctuations in the standings amongst the top five. In the
end, after what could be seen as an uncharacteristically slow start,
Claas Lemann’s team sailing MITTELMANN (Marc-Pawel Mohlmann, Valentin
Zeller & Bjorn Athmen) overcame their initial shock of an 8-6 in the
first two races to score a 1-2-3-1-1 for 14 pts net to win by a
remarkable 6 pts.

For the balance of the top five in the J/70s it all ended up in a
virtual tie at 20 to 22 pts each, the last race becoming the determining
factor for everyone. Starting fast but struggling to maintain pace
with Lehmann was The Netherland’s Wouter Kollman and crew (Wick Hillege,
Kim Platteeuw & Gilbert Figaroa) sailing HENRI LLOYD. While
winning the first race and taking a DNF (14) in the second race, their
uphill struggle was worth it, taking a 3-4-6-2-4 for 20 pts net to
secure the silver position. Taking third on the tie-breaker at 21 pts
each was Michael Illgenstein with his Flensburg SC crew (Terje
Klockermann, Jan-Ole Burzinski & Finn Mrugalla). There’s was a true
“roller-coaster” ride, scoring a 6-1-5-1-8-5-3 for 21 pts net. Behind
them in fourth, losing the tie-break, was Christian Soyka on VOICE OF
ITZEHOE; his team of Ole Stucker, Leon Stolp & Arne Petersen managed
a scoreline of 5-2-4-6-2-10-2 for the same 21 pts. Fifth was Dennis
Mehlig sailing with his crew of Marvin Frisch, Kevin Mehlig and Anian
Schreiber.

Unlike the J/70s, the twenty-two boat J/80 fleet saw a runaway winner in
the form of Martin Menzner and crew (Frank Lichte, Carsten Hopp &
Mike Rolfs) sailing PIKE. By tossing a 2nd place, they scored six 1sts
for a total of 6 pts net and a margin of victory of 11 pts in seven
races. Behind them was a strong contest for the balance of the top five
with the results not becoming apparent until the final tally in the
last race. The three players were Soren Hadeler’s GER 578, Hauke
Kruss’s GER 853 and Martin Christiansen’s GER 885. Kruss started out
strong with a 2-2-4 but struggled later with a 10-3-3-6. Hadeler
struggled at first with a 6-3-6 but closed like a race-horse with a
1-2-2-3. Christiansen sailed solidly enough to win in the beginning
with a 3-4-2-3-4 but a hiccup in the end with a 7-5 cost him the
silver. As a result, Hadeler took 2nd with 17 pts, Kruss 3rd with 20
pts, and Christiansen 4th with 21 pts. Fifth was Olav Jansen with 31
pts. Kieler food and ambience Youtube video (pretty amazing!). For Kieler Woche sailing results. For more Kiel Week sailing information